You MUST be born again from above, there is nothing whatsoever that can help you down here on this earth. The Holy Ghost of God must move in your life, or you shall be surely doomed. Only the Holy Ghost can create saving faith in Christ Jesus' blood and real repentance of your self-righteousness and sin. Human nature cannot produce eternal life within itself. Someone outside of you (God) has to come and plant the seed of the Gospel within your spirit, and then only the Holy Spirit can give that Precious Seed life within you. Your old earthly nature loves the world and sin, it must go. You need a new divine nature implanted within you by the Spirit of God, a heavenly nature that loves Jesus Christ and hates sin. Now understand - A hatred of your sin will always accompany real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As soon as a man is born again, a conflict ensues with his thoughts and sins. The atheist knows no such inward conflict with sin; the atheist sins and enjoys it. Where there is and inward spiritual conflict with sin, Christ Jesus and the grace of God are present there.
The true Christian dreads to sin and grieve the Holy Spirit. The man who is dead in his sins has no conflict with his sins. A Christian may sin, but he hates himself for it, he loathes his sin and fights against it. The kingdom of God is always warring against the power of darkness (Colossians 1:13; Romans 7:23). In your natural state, your thoughts go after evil like a vulture after a carcass, and your imagination delights in sin like a kid with candy. The atheist commits spiritual suicide by neglecting the Savior, and spitting in the face of God's own Christ. The deadly poison of sin moves in your inward nature, and breeds death to your soul. Sin like a leopard is lurking within you, and at times pounces upon you, and you have no defense against it. God sees all the foul imaginations, dirty lusting, lewd desires, gross unbelief, vile blasphemies, smutty thoughts, and impure passions within your soul. You set up your secret darling Sin like an idol in your heart, and you heartily adore and love it. Some secret evil is keeping you from receiving Christ, and you know it. Christ sees you in secret and reads your heart all the time. A heart-to-heart relationship with Jesus Christ Himself is the only cure for your sins. Your demented love for sin will soon cause you to commit eternal spiritual suicide. Turn or burn, flee from the wrath to come, come to Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Risen Creator for shelter from the wrath of God and salvation from your sinful ways.